title: Photocontrollable water permeation on the micro/nanoscale hierarchical structured ZnO mesh films.
abstract: Most research of responsive surfaces mainly focus on the wettability transition on different solid substrate surfaces, but the dynamic properties of the micro/nanostructure-enhanced responsive wettability on microscale pore arrays are lacking and still remain a challenge. Here we report the photocontrollable water permeation on micro/nanoscale hierarchical structured ZnO-coated stainless steel mesh films. Especially, for aligned ZnO nanorod array-coated stainless steel mesh film, the film shows good water permeability under irradiation, while it is impermeable to water after dark storage. A detailed investigation indicates that the special nanostructure and the appropriate size of the microscale mesh pores play a crucial role in the excellent controllability over water permeation. The excellent controllability of water permeation on this film is promising in various important applications such as filtration, microreactor, and micro/nano fluidic devices. This work may provide interesting insight into the design of novel functional devices that are relevant to surface wettability.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Environment, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, PR China.
authors.forename: Dongliang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Xiaofang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang